The park lies on Precambrian rocks which form a southern extension of the Canadian Shield. The geologically complex area is made up of ancient sedimentary and volcanic rocks encased in a solid mass of bedrock. Time has worn down the softer rocks in the park leaving two parallel rocky ridges that dominate the landscape. During the last Ice Age, glaciers funnelled through here, scraping away the soil. The thin soil covering discouraged farmers but heartened prospectors seeking iron, mica, quartz, feldspar, and semi-precious stones. Early in this century, some 45 mines had been established within a 16-km radius of Silver Lake.

The forests consist of young maple and ironwood sapling, mature mixed hardwood trees of maple, basswood, eastern hemlock, oak, elm and black ash. The woods provide welcome shade and habitat for the park's wildlife. Vegetation includes bunchberry, goldenthread, American yew, winterbury, dogwood, sensitive fern and wild sarsparilla.

A wide variety of animals, including skunks, woodchucks, raccoons, rabbits and chipmunks, live here. Harmless snakes, painted turtles, toads, bullfrogs, and leopard frogs inhabit the wetland. Overhead, see and hear the eastern king-bird and red-winged blackbird.